Neues Museum — Attraction in Berlin

This museum is just an overrated, expensive, self-important waste of time and money and just not that good. The only notable item in the collection and their claim to fame is the Nefertiti Bust, and everyone is prohibited from taking pictures of it for no good reason. It's a disgrace.

They charge 14 Euros for it and place 4 men that keep a close eye on people holding cameras and keep rudely telling them to take those away. Why do they do that? Well, it can't be copyright because the artist is unknown and dead for 3000 years; the idea that flashlight can cause harm to the pigment has been debunked (and they could just ask for people to not use flash); and the last plausible theory is that the museum wants to push people into buying their own images of the bust, which is nonsense. The Monalisa is open to photographs and it's a widely more famous piece of art and its availability never harmed the business of selling its image. But somehow the Neues Museum knows better. Among the other highlighted pieces in the collection is a "green head", which is one of dozens of face sculptures from Egypt and has nothing special about it; a Roman bronze statue of a boy found at random in a river; a ridiculous hat made of gold many years ago by some leader somewhere; a bunch of random items found in Turkey that might or might not be from Troy; and a skeleton of a moose, as if moose were as interesting as Nefertiti. Of course, everything else at the museum can be photographed, but Nefertiti's bust is somehow magically damaged when people take a photo of it.

The texts describing the things in the museum are badly illuminated, so you have to stay really close to it to read it, or the font is too small or simply badly translated, some have no descriptions at all; there's barely any toilets in the area, there's no signalling for anything, so the place is hard to navigate; there's barely any mobile service available; the staff barely speaks any English and is flat-out rude; articles at the shop are expensive; the exhibits are crammed together despite having empty space in several areas; and the distribution of items makes no logical sense: you go from Greek artifacts to Viking to Egyptian back to Roman and so on.

If you want to see proper Egyptian items, I suggest the British Museum in London and the Museo Egizio in Turin. They have much richer collections, are cheaper and there are no photography bullies around pestering people about items that should be freely available to the public to document and learn about. Shame on you, Neues Museum. But seriously, in Turin, save for the Nefertiti's bust, there is nothing that can't be found in the Neues, in a much better setting, state and quantity; and the British museum has much more interesting artifacts like the Rosetta Stone and a huge face of Ramesses II (and guess what? It's free and you can photograph at your heart's content). Paying 14 euro to see a head is quite a waste of time and money that can be put to better use elsewhere in Berlin. This kind of strategy of having a single item to justify a museum visit is used a lot in Florence, where if you'd like to see, e.g. David's statue, you'd have to pay the entry and end up with a lot of junk religious paintings from medieval Italy, but at least they let people take photos with David, so Florence wins, I guess.

Don't buy anything from these guys, they don't deserve it. Boycott any museums that prohibit photographs. They are so full of themselves that they live in the past. Oh, and if you take a bag with you, be prepared to use cash (1 or 2 euro coins) to keep it in a locker because their cloakroom somehow can't...

The Neues Museum is one of the major attractions at Museum Island in Berlin. The museum houses a collection of Egyptian, pre-historic and early history artefacts. Closed at the beginning of WWII and heavily damaged during the bombings of Berlin, the Neues was only reopened to the public in 2009.

Today it can be visited from 10am to 6pm daily with extended hours to 8pm on Thursday. Entry fee is €12 per person. The Berlin Museum Pass includes entry into the Neues Museum.

Note: If you plan to visit several of the National Museums in Berlin, you should consider the 3-day Berlin Museum Pass (€24 per person). This pass pays for itself after 2-3 museums and provides access to 40 different museums around the city. Museum goers can save quite a bit by making use of the Museum Pass.

The Neues Museum most notably houses the iconic bust of Queen Nefertiti. While you can take photos throughout the museum, no photography is allowed in this dimly lit viewing gallery where you see this impressive and important image of Nefertiti. A couple hours worth of additional Egyptian antiquity viewing awaits you within the museum galleries.

We also very much enjoyed seeing the Berlin Gold Hat and the exhibition with artefacts related to mankind's evolution from the prehistoric to medieval time periods. There is a interesting (and child friendly) projected screen which shows mankind evolution through time and seasons. Do take a few minutes to watch if there is viewing space when you pass by.

Overall, The Neues is a very good museum experience, particularly for those who are fans of Egyptology. If you have purchased the Museum Pass and plan to spend time at Museum Island, this is very much a museum worth spending a couple of hours.

Note: There are free lockers you can make use of at Neues Museum. This allows you to view the open exhibition more freely and comfortably during your visit.

Note: There is a cafe called Allegretto on the second floor of museum. This can make a good place to take a break from the museum galleries if you need to rest your feet or simply fancy a...

September 21, 2025

Dear Sir or Madam,

We visited your museum and were extremely dissatisfied with the service. We paid €42 for three tickets. At first, we entered with our bags — no one told us that this was not allowed. We walked through part of the museum, and only later did a security guard approach us in a rude manner and demand that we put our bags into a locker. Our bags were not large, but we were still forced to leave them there.

In addition, I had a jacket draped over my bag. One staff member told me: “Put it on.” I put it on over my shoulders and we continued. However, after some time, another staff member approached me and, in a commanding tone, demanded that I wear the jacket properly, with my arms in the sleeves.

I also pointed out other visitors who were carrying bags, and even a woman who had a paper shopping bag from the museum. This bag was about the same size as ours. The staff member’s response was: “Well, she bought it here in the museum.” So it turns out that if someone carries a bag from the museum shop, this is acceptable, but if someone has their own personal bag of the same size, it suddenly becomes a problem. Such treatment seems illogical and unfair.

At the same time, I would like to emphasize that the cashier who sold us the tickets and the security guard standing nearby were very attentive and friendly. They themselves could not understand why their colleagues were behaving so rudely and also recognized the absurdity of the situation.

The attitude of some staff members was extremely rude and unpleasant. At every step we were confronted with remarks and corrections, and instead of enjoying our visit, our mood was spoiled. We felt not like welcome guests but like offenders, even though we had paid a significant amount of money. In the end, we simply wanted to leave as quickly as possible.

We deeply regret that our visit to your gallery was overshadowed by the unprofessional and disrespectful behavior of some of your staff. We had hoped for a cultural and pleasant experience, but instead we left with irritation and...